Fiona MacCarthy's background is in design, which brings a lovely perspective to her biography of Morris. MacCarthy also writes well, which is a plus in a book this size. She writes with affection for her subject, but without any of the bizarre idolatry with which some people approach Morris. He was a crashing bore as a poet, a mere amateur painter, a gifted fabric designer (but there are many gifted fabric designers), and a Socialist who knew only marginally more about what people actually do for a living than did Ruskin. Nevertheless, Morris was a volcano of artistic activity and heart-felt social ideas, and therein lay his genius. MacCarthy does an excellent job bringing Morris's genius to life in this first rate biography.

Most books about William Morris are like rainbows, filled with colorful images. Simply because he made so many wonderful and colorful embroideries, tapestries and patterns, and because color itself is something people like, and therefore buy.

This book doesn't have many colors inside, but it contains many black and white photographs, that are of great interest for those who like to read about William Morris and his time. And the combination of text and photographs create so many images in your mind, that you forget about color.

For the same people, this is the the final book about William Morris and his life. It's not the book to buy, if you want to know all about his printing of books in Kelmscott Press (there you have to go for Peterson's books), but it's the book about all the other stuff you want to know about Morris - and everything, you didn't know, you would want to know.

Having spent more than 5 years on this matter, Fiona MacCarthy has succeeded in making an extraordinary and therefore the final biography on William Morris.

More than 700 pages with more than 100 pages of source and reference notes.

It's a book to read and to read again and to use, when you're working with text about the period, the arts & crafts movement - or simply with Morris. Buy it, even if you don't have the money - wear the old jacket another year. You won't regret.

As long as it's out of print, you have to go to the library, where you should tell them to order some more books, so they print more.

I first read The Lady And The Monk by Pico Iyer over a year ago. I always find myself picking it up again. I can turn to any part of the book and feel I am in Kyoto myself. Mr. Iyer has shown us that the old Japan is still alive. Tradition, sorrow, simplicity. Although Mr. Iyer was only searching for insight into Zen, he found much more than this in his relationship with a woman he met while in Kyoto. As their story unfolds, we are able to peel back the layers of what we conceive Japan to be, and we can see the jewel that has been a secret to the West since Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay. Thank you Mr. Iyer for sharing. I only wish that I could find this book written in Japanese to share with a friend.

I agree with the reviewer, who wrote down there that this book is like being in Japan again. I first read it 6 years ago, and I still re-read it to this day, even opening pages at random, and reading what I find; This book is the closest the written word comes to capturing a visit to Japan (I have read virtually every "foreigner in Japan" Armchair-travel book that have come out since Pictures From the Water Trade, and this is hands down the best). By the way, some reviewers keep referring to Sachiko as a "character" as if this is a work of fiction, which it is NOT. Pico Iyer obviously would not use the real name of the individual, but this is an account of his stay in Japan, not a fictional tale. I have been in Japan, and studied the Japanese language and culture for over ten years, and I can attest that Mr. Iyer's observations are accurate and descriptive of Japan. If you are a Non-Japanese interested in Japan, have never been there, and wish to know how it feels, read this book! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

I stayed up all night reading the Lady and the Monk. This is the second book I have read by Pico Aver, the other being Video nights in Katmandu. I teach Japanese woman in Hawaii, and I can attest that Sachiko is real. Her constant tears brought me back to encounters with my Japanese friends. When the Japanese mask is removed, there is alot of repressed emotion and longing there. I am going to reread this book again. A first reading is never enough to digest Pico Ayer's lyrical descriptions. I feel he is a poet. I feel his soul through this book. For example, the way he comforts Sachiko, never lying to her that he will stay with her. It is a beautiful love story as well as a transporting guidebook to Kyoto. I am going to Japan to teach and can't wait to see Kyoto through his eyes. I encourage readers to read all of Ayers books. He has a way of observing aspects of a culture in a very short time that are both right on and romantic. He respects different cultures but is not shy about revealing his perceptions that are most of the time true. I recommend this book highly to all sensitive armchair travelers as well as for people who are just interested in Japan. I think I am a little jealous of Sachiko. They say it is better to have love and lost than to never have loved at all. And I think she was truly in love. This is one observation that Pico Ayer kept to himself

I really do not want to write a bad review of Maxine Hong Kingston's work. Her "Woman Warrior" and "China Men" were wonderful. And she is a wonderful person. But that make me all the more disappointed with "Tripmaster Monkey."

I am quite familiar with post-modern novels, and I find Milan Kundera's roaming meanders and flying leaps a very pleasant read. So my reaction is not to post-modern style but rather to her application of that style.

There are so many layers upon heavy layers of self-indulgent baggage to plod through that reading the book became a nightmarish experience. I always try to read at least 100 pages of any book before abandoning it -- and I abandon books only very rarely. But after 68 pages of "Tripmaster Monkey", I simply could not go on, and I put it back on the shelf.

I may someday try it again. But I doubt it.

It is hard to believe that "Tripmaster Monkey: His ... Book" is by the same author who wrote "The Woman Warrior." Maxine Hong Kingston's "Tripmaster Monkey" is her first "novel" (though by no means her first foray into fiction), and it is easy to see why there was a nine year gap between this book and "China Men." Kingston's novel, centring on a young, literary minded Chinese American man named Wittman Ah Sing, is meticulously researched and detailed, bringing to life the issues and fads of the mid-1960s Bay Area literary scene. Wittman, largely without an Chinese/Asian American literary tradition, has to overcome (white) racist assumptions of "the artist" in order to produce his truly American play without it being reduced to some "exotic" or "Oriental" exercise in Asianness. Despite the seriousness of Wittman's self- and community-driven mission to be taken seriously as an artist despite the racist assumptions that attempt to stifle his creativity, the novel is extremely funny, witty and surreal. Wittman disturbs a girl he is infatuated with by proclaiming "I am really: the present-day USA incarnation of the King of the Monkeys." Wittman is fired from his department store job because he puts "an organ-grinder's monkey with cymbals attached to its hands" on ..., for customers (children) to see! Wittman's parents abandon his honorary grandmother PoPo high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to die, and she is later rescued by a wealthy man who just happens to be seeking a wife! In many ways, Kingston's rendering of the surreal, "tripmaster" (mental and physical) wanderings of Wittman resemble the textual flow of the post-"Moby Dick" novels by Herman Melville. As with those later Melville novels, Kingston's own novel is often angry, but is also frightfully funny and filled with accurate observations of life, love and the role of art, religion, philosophy and national identity in society.

It is little wonder that many people will dislike this book. After all, it assumes an advanced reading skill; the ability to follow a disjointed, post-modern narrative; and a spohisticated view of what literature ought to be. Some folks just aint got the stones for that. Poor dears, they are just, well ... let's just say they are limited.

See, there is more to books than just telling a simple story. Sometimes you need to be challenged. That is what really great books do. They challenge the reader to actually flex their minds. Tripmaster does just that.

The story of Wittman's (mis)place in society is a journey of self discovery for both himself and the reader. It brings up obstacles and barriers, both real and imagined, and forces the Wittman/reader to confront them.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Every page had a tangible flavor, and it was a pure joy to see the english language used so deftly. It also helped that I too, like the characters in this novel, am an alumnus of Cal.

Now I totally understand that not every book needs to be challenging or use complicated verbal gymnastics to be considered great. But to off-handedly criticize this book for being a mess or a waste of time reflects more on the readers severe limits and mental weakness rather than the book's.

Speaking from a Layman's point of view, this is no easy read. The book is full of information and plenty of explanations about schemas and their application and origin. This book will likely require a 2nd if not a 3rd reading to fully understand it's concepts.

As for me, I found if interesting enough to know what schemas are and how they interpret my life's experiences and viewpoints. This was already brought up in the 1st chapter. But having no desire to pursue a PHD, I quickly lost interest in reading the rest of the book because of the considerable details. The book read more like a 4 th year psychology textbook than a self-help book.

Surely schemas are a very important and relevant method of clinical diagnosis, and I will be better off knowing more about them. I only wish the authors could make it less scientific. Perhaps a few more case studies would be helpful.

Why Can't I Get What I Want? emphasizes one of the latest developments in cognitive therapy, i.e., the role schemas play in our lives. The authors suggest that schemas can be thought of as powerful lenses that affect every important part of life. I had previously known of the schema concept, but was impressed by the clarity of the presentation and the case examples that brought the notions to life.

I was also surprised to see elements of chaos theory applied to schemas in a fascinating manner. The authors cleverly demonstrate how inconsistencies are a natural phenomenon in all of us. They note out how easy it can be to flip between opposite, seemingly contradictory poles of any particular schema (such as from perfection to inadequacy).

This book makes you think. I have acquired a much deeper understanding of myself and others. The ideas have stuck with me and I see new applications of them frequently. I have never read a self-help book before that provided such a wide swath of applications. It isn't just about depression or anxiety; it's about life-relationships, empowerment, and self-worth.

I highly recommend this book!

A reference book for allergists and anyone training or practicing as an allergy-immunology subspecialist. It is an extensive and comprehensive review of allergic diseases. I found specially useful the tables and boxes which summarizes the very essential in one shot. It includes practical applications for daily practice problems.One con: It comes very short on drug allergy.

Performing for California wines the service that Hugh Johnson's and Oz Clarke's pocket guides do for the wines of the world, this guide has become an institution. The current volume lists more than 800 wineries, with detailed information and tasting notes on the wines of each

Having to rate a book like this is no easy task. I give it four stars as a sort of average. The edition itself, with a solid introduction by Emory Eliot, is very good. The novel, like all of Brown's works, is a somewhat unsatisfying effort.

That said, let me add quickly that this novel is a must-read, without a doubt. This truly Gothic tale will keep you in suspence from start to finish--and guess what, Brown even claims a historical precedent for the narrator's brother slaughtering his wife and children. This is Real TV!

It is not a great novel (although superior to, for instance, "Edgar Huntly" and "Stephen Calvert") but it is a fascinating one. Brown was quick to jump on the bandwagon of female fiction that proved to be the bestseller in 19th century America, and this semi-epistolary tale by a female narrator is fascinating if only for the problems its form poses. For instance, its epistolary character, meant to create a sense of urgency and directness, never convinces due to its pretentious literate (read, latinate) diction and syntax. Moreover, Brown's choice of a female narrator--a man writing like a woman writing like a man--, while marketable in 1798, shows that he always bites off much more than he can chew. A much better (and earlier, 1797!) example of a female epistolary novel is Hannah W. Foster's "The Coquette," available in a wonderful edition also by the Oxford UP.

Unlike what some would have you believe, Brown is not the earliest American novelist. It is interesting to note that some of his fans claim Brown instead of Cooper, completely forgetting the books put out by female authors and read mainly by women. I might add that Brown had a male predecessor also, a namesake, William Hill Brown ("The Power of Sympathy," 1789): one shouldn't try to simplify the history of early American literature. However, to come to grips with American literature, and especially its love for the Gothic (mystery, murder, incest), "Wieland" is a great start, and this is a very good edition.

As a younger person in the nineties, I dipped into the plays of Shakespeare, and this book let me get into the classic stuff. It was interesting, put into kids' stories so as not to intimidate the younger enthusiast, and altogether, it was a good book. I suppose you have to be in to Shakespeare to enjoy it wholly though....

A gentle, relaxing dip into Shakespeare. I'll give two stars.

Tales from Shakespeare was one of the few books that attracted me by its title. I've heard a lot about William Shakespeare, however, I never really got to listen or read his stories. I think they're really special because everyone knows who he is and they say his stories are wonderful.
In this book, there are many, many stories, so I decided to read two of them I was interested in: ¡¥The Tempest¡¦ and ¡¥A Midsummer Night's Dream¡¦. But I'll only tell you about The Tempest.
The Tempest was the first story of the book. It was about a man and his daughter, Miranda, a young girl living on an island with spirits, and no other humans. However, before they decided to side there, there lived before them, a witch name Sycorax. She prisoned all the good spirits, including the leader, Ariel. When Miranda's father decided to side on the island, he defeated Sycorax, and Ariel, as the head of all good spirits promised to serve Miranda's father in any way he can.
As Miranda grew older, she became more beautiful. Her father thought that it was time for her to get married. He sent Ariel to carry Fernando, a prince to marry his daughter. At first, he was so angry at Miranda's father for doing such a thing, but once he saw Miranda, he decided to marry her. As they were getting married, Miranda's father had some revenge on his brother.
What I like about this book is that, Shakespeare has a lot of good ideas.
What I dislike about this book, is that, his stories are too confusing for me to understand. And every time I finish a story, I don't see the point of it.
But I really enjoy reading his stories though.

Although this book is written for children it is great for all ages and is great to get the basic story line before you go to a play. I read most of the plays in this book (I have not yet read all of them) when I was 11. Now that I have been reading the actual plays of Shakespeare I always start by reading the short version of the play in this book and than read the actual play. I can understand what is going on much better that way. I also recommend "Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children" by Edith Nesbit which gives about ten page versions of each story verses the thirty pages per story in this book and also has a smaller vocabulary which makes it better for younger children.

What I found particularly disappointing is that although the authors claim to be presenting coherent and evidence-based arguments, I did not find this to be the case. Quite often the authors make considerable leaps of logic.

In addition to finding the book poorly reasoned, I found the tone to be highly rhetorical and condescending; not to the reader, mind you, but to the ambiguous "self-esteem movement." For instance, they label proponents of self-esteem as "traffickers" of self-esteem.

To give you a better picture of what I mean, I will quote a larger section and provide my commentary at the end of it.

[Begin Quote: pp. 33-34]

"[Nathaniel] Branden describes self-esteem as a fundamental human need....one can never have too much. Yet most of us recognize there is such a thing as conceit and arrogance....How, then, do self-esteem promoters rationalize this myth?...Branden [is committed] to the idea that self-esteem is an unqualified good. Branden has responded with a truly ingenious solution. In order to propose you never much too much self-esteem, Branden turns what most people call excessive self-esteem on its head. He has decided that a feeling of superiority over others, boastfulness, arrogance, and self-glorification all represent inadequate self-esteem "rather than, as some people imagine, too high self-esteem." If this seems illogical to you, it should. It is difficult to juxtapose boastfulness, arrogance, and self-glorification with Branden's description of low self-esteem, which includes lack of confidence, self-deprecation, and feelings of worthlessness....Logic aside, no research has supported this notion."

[End Quote]

First, in terms of tone, they preface their argument with the rhetorical and condescending language of how Branden (which the authors make clear is a major proponent of the self-esteem movement) "rationalize[s] the myth." That is, that self-esteem is an qualified good. Using a respectful tone, such disagreement could have been stated in more civil terms as Branden's "unsupported conclusion" or "inadequately reasoned argument."

Second, the authors don't explain the logic of Branden's argument, which is how self-aggrandizing behaviour functions to protect or defend against feelings of low self-esteem. This explanation is central to the defensive self-esteem hypothesis, but the authors fail to mention it.

Finally, contrary to the authors's claims, there is research demonstrating differences between narcissism (defensive self-esteem) and genuinely high self-esteem people. In other words, there is evidence that does support Branden's position. For a few references of this research:

Johnson, E. A., Vincent, N., & Ross, L. (1997) Self-deception versus self-esteem in buffering the negative effects of failure. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 385-405.

Lobel, T. E., & Teiber, A. (1994). Effects of self-esteem and need for approval on affective and cognitive reactions: Defensive and true self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 315-321.

Smalley, R. L., & Stake, J. E. (1996). Evaluating sources of ego-threatening feedback: Self-esteem and Narcissism Effect. Journal of Research in Personality, 30, 483-495.

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In sum, I found many sections that were problematic in terms of tone (i.e., lack of respectful dialogue), poorly reasoned arguments (i.e., considerable leaps of logic and unsupported claims), and misrepresentation of their opponent's position.

As a recommendation, if you want to understand Branden's work, it is best to read him first-hand (for e.g., "The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem") and arrive at your own conclusions.

Another recommendation, if self-esteem really does interest you, a helpful book that summarizes theories and research in self-esteem is Christopher Mruk's (1999) "Self-Esteem: Theory, Research, and Practice."

Just one more teen bashing book, I thought as I started to read Hollow Kids. It didn't take long before I realized something much more profound was in the offing. Drs. Smith and Elliott convincingly demonstrate that our culture has bought some seriously misguided myths about self-esteem-specifically that more self-esteem is always better and that raising self-esteem will cure most anything that ails youth today. They further show that raising self-esteem has become a cultural mantra that has worked its way into school curriculums, psychology journals, and thousands of self-help books. The authors then provide a logical analysis backed up by hundreds of studies demonstrating that overly high, inflated self-esteem poses far more dangers than you would imagine. It appears that, although for decades everyone assumed low self-esteem caused aggression, eating disorders, and substance abuse, quite the opposite appears to be the case. You really have to read the book and review the authors' evidence. You'll never think about self-esteem in the same way again! Finally, I was delighted by their surprisingly useful solutions and advice for overcoming the problems they critique. Most such books fail miserably in the area of solutions; this one doesn't.

Hollow Kids opens with some very surprising statistics about self-esteem and how it has become infused in our culture and our collective psyches. The authors present these facts in a fast paced, hard hitting, yet entertaining way. I was amazed that with each new chapter, new information about a variety of topics was presented in the same interesting format. I would never have believed that overly high self-esteem could lead to problems such as violence, aggression, and even eating disorders. The authors' points are often rather counter-intuitive, but they back their assertions with compelling evidence and research in addition to their own clinical experiences. The chapters on education and parenting were fantastic. Hollow Kids goes further than most books critical of current cultural trends in that it provides surprisingly useful advice and solutions. Great book!

Author has included some email and web site information for ski area accomodations, tourist offices, etc, but it just touches the tip of the iceberg.

Verbier, Switzerland, one of the top ski areas in Europe, only gets 5 pages in the book. Does not provide any commentary on accommodations in Verbier other than number of stars in rating and prices. Some other large ski areas get better treatment. The Arlberg region gets 9 pages of coverage.

Book lacks maps of Europe and of ski areas.

Overall the book is a good starting place for researching a trip, but descriptive information is brief and basic. Still this book is the most recently published on the topic as of 10/98, so the currency of the information should be decent.

I live in Munich and use this book often as a reference. It contains very accurate information on lodging, prices, and qualities of the resorts. Very accurately summarizes the differences in the ski experience between the different countries.

Needs more detailed maps of the resorts and slopes with hotels, restaurants, etc. clearly marked. Needs to be more critical of some resorts so the reader can make a better decision about which one to visit.

Ski Europe was a great book for my winter stay in europe. The thing i liked most about it was that it was the only book i needed. It offered all the skiing info i needed for each resort (even a scection in each resort on snowboarding!), but it didn't stop there. Its an all around guide with info on the night life, hotels, and restaurants. it gave concice information about all the aspects of a skiing vacation, which made my off the slope hours much more productive. i strongly recomend this book for any skier or snowboarder, any level.
=Z